"Good morning, your highness."
One of her husband's feet had slipped out of the blanket, and Padmé slapped at it playfully. She was leaning up in bed, still learning to enjoy the view of the sunrise from their new apartment at 500 Republica.
"You know I haven't been Queen for almost a year now, right?"
"And you won't be an Empress for, I don't know, at least a few more weeks, but it doesn't hurt to start." She looked back at Anakin, who was staring at her with an impossibly mischievous, yet entirely lustful grin.
"You're teasing me."
"Oh, I wouldn't dare tease a future Empress."
A flash of yellow glazed Padmé's brown eyes, and with a sudden hiss, she raised her hand at her husband and tendrils of blue lightning streaked towards him. He caught it with his own fingers, shooting out his own, the two connected by this twisted Sith magic until Padmé leaned down to kiss him ravenously.
"You really don't want to give the Republic a chance, do you?" Their little lightning play had ceased, and how she was nibbling at his neck.
"You're the one who taught me how useless it is. Not that I needed much convincing, growing up in Tatooine."
"Hmm. Sounds like you would have been a much better student to Sidious than I."
"Eh. Sidious wouldn't have had much use for my tongue," Anakin said, licking his lips. "Besides," he said, going back to the original subject, "Supreme Chancellor for life doesn't exactly have the same ring to it."
"No it doesn't. And you can't exactly be my co-Supreme-Chancellor-for-life. Not without some major changes to the constitution." Ugh, that really didn't roll off the tongue. "Emperor, on the other hand."
"Anakin the Great," he said with as much grandiosity as his young voice could muster. "I like the sound of that."
"More like Anakin the Horny." With a reluctant sigh she rose from the bed, leaving a confused looking Anakin still lying in bed.
"Huh," he groaned awkwardly. "I thought we were gonna...with all that dirty talk..."
"We can't be late to the meeting with the Supreme Chancellor." She looked sternly at him. "Better get dressed, Captain Skywalker."
"I'll take a nap instead," Anakin said, sulking. "Force knows I have plenty of time, seeing how long it takes you to get ready."
He dodged a pillow she flung at his face with the Force. "What," he said back as he struggled not to laugh at the dirty look she was giving him.
"Behave yourself, Skywalker. Maybe we can talk about sneaking off somewhere in the Senate building after the meeting."
As predictable as ever, she saw his face perk up at her words. A thought came to his mind, and he grinned devilishly at her. "How about Senator Organa's office? We haven't done it in there yet."
"A challenge, but not impossible. Maybe I can arrange for Mon to schedule a meeting for him later today."
"You know what we can say to him if we get caught."
"What?" Padmé narrowed her eyes, clearly not expecting anything productive to come out of her husband's mouth.
"That we can't help but go kriff each other in Alderaan-g places."
This time he couldn't dodge them as every pillow in the room flung themselves towards him, each striking him in the face. Still, he could see her holding back a grin, and could feel her amusement through the Force.
"You're a better Sith than comedian, Skywalker."
"Only cause I learned from the best." He blew a kiss at her and, silly and melodramatic as the gesture was, she pretended to catch it with one hand and place it lovingly on her own cheek.
The personality of Chancellor Bail Antilles was as bland as the man's face. He had ideals, but lacked the spine to carry them through, which made him emblematic for the Republic which he 'led'. The subject in front of them was the new anti-slavery bill, one that she herself had proposed. Slavery was already illegal, of course, but this bill would require a more active enforcement of the Republic's own laws. It should have been apparent to any Supreme Chancellor that the failure of the Republic to live up to its own ideals was a glaring weakness broadcast to the galaxy, yet her bill, on the verge of passage, now found itself stalled as various Senators from worlds who clearly wished to look the other way on the illicit trade sought to kill it.
"The ideas are nice, and slavery is of course abhorrent, but the provisions outlined in this bill are too...stringent. One could interpret it to void any legal contracts of indenture."
"Ryloth has many 'legal' contracts of indenture, doesn't it," Padmé said accusingly at Orn Free Taa. "In fact, I believe many of your most prominent donors hold hundreds, if not thousands, of 'legal' contracts."
The twi'lek senator looked angrily at the Supreme Chancellor. "I will not suffer such an attack on my integrity. Not by a newcomer such as Amidala."
Bail Antilles held up his hands, trying to pacify the two senators before him. "Senator Amidala has been with us long enough to respect her voice, and all senators stand equal before the Republic regardless of their tenure. But," he paused, looking timidly at her, eyes pleading for her to listen, "we should avoid throwing around baseless accusations at our brethren."
Padmé fumed, genuinely angry. She had know what to expect of course, having seen firsthand the ineptitude of the Republic firsthand during the blockade after having only heard about it from Sidious for many years. Yet she knew well enough that her former Sith master had been the one who had exacerbated much of the incompetence, so it disappointed her to find that, even after his death, the Senate was a useless instrument for improving the lives of those in the galaxy.
"With all due respect, the facts are what they are, Chancellor Antilles, despite our unwillingness to see them."
"Master Jedi," Bail Organa interjected, hoping to steer the conversation away from the growing hostility. "This bill seeks to wield your order as its instrument. How do you feel about it?" Organa was Antilles' replacement after the former Senator had ascended to the Chancellorship after Valorum's death, and many in the Senate whispered now that he would make a much better Chancellor than his fellow Alderaanian. He could actually save the Republic, Padmé thought. Which is why that couldn't happen.
"Strained, the Jedi are," Yoda replied. "Scattered around the galaxy we have been, trying to keep the peace. But work, we will, for this noble cause if instructed by the Republic."
"The state of the Republic is putrid indeed," the deep voice of Master Dooku added, causing the small Jedi grandmaster to give his former Padawan a sharp look of disapproval, "if we cannot even protect our own. It is true, Jedi are being sent left and right to quell one civil insurrection after another. I can't but help think that were we not so reactive, if we tried to prevent this infection of crises before they occur, that we may solve the root of all our problems."
So he would be an ally to her in this matter. "It is true, Master Jedi, that dissatisfaction with the Republic seems to be at an all time high. We are fortunate indeed that the conflicts are spread far across the galaxy from each other, independent of one another. Were there one to take advantage of the dissent, and lead them to speak with one voice, I fear what fate would befall us."
It was a comment meant to stir the Jedi from Serenno to thought, and it was a reference that only her and Anakin truly understood. Upon the death of Senator Palpatine, all his estate and belongings had been transferred to the custody of the Queen, especially seeing that he had no more living family. Over the years, her and Anakin had sliced through all of his files, uncovering bits and traces of his plans for the future. Dooku had been marked for 'exploitation' due to his clear disillusionment with the Republic, and Padmé sensed that he would have been a perfect, if temporary, instrument for Sidious in his plan to rip the Republic apart from the inside.
"Ryloth is a key world, and its concerns cannot be ignored," Antilles said.
You mean, Orn Free Taa is a key supporter of yours, and you cannot afford to alienate him.
"Senator Amidala, you must compromise," the Supreme Chancellor continued.
"I will do what is necessary to make the galaxy a better place," Padmé said, seemingly placated. Her words were true, and it was good that her colleagues all saw her as some naive schoolgirl posing as a politician. "Senator Taa, Chancellor Antilles, with your permissions, I believe the best way to understand the concerns of Ryloth is to speak to its own people on their terms, in their homes. I myself can represent the bill before Governor Nikmas."
"Senator Taa?"
"Senator Amidala will always be welcomed on Ryloth, of course. We welcome a healthy discussion on the needs of our economy and our people. But...Ryloth has not been immune to the recent waves of insurrection that has gripped the Republic. The safety of Senator Amidala must be our paramount concern."
"I appreciate your concern, Senator Taa. But I have faced much worse."
"Perhaps a Jedi escort," Antilles offered, "will keep you safe."
"I trust my safety wholeheartedly to Captain Skywalker," Padmé protested. This suggestion from the Supreme Chancellor was wholly unwelcome. Ryloth, with its many slavers, might have been an optimal locale for her to further hone Anakin's training, but that could only happen away from the prying eyes of the Jedi. "He is in charge of my security, after all, and has neutralized many threats to my life in the past."
"On familiar ground, Senator Amidala." It was Dooku. He was not being so helpful now, and Padmé had a feeling that he wished to insert himself into this situation. "Ryloth would be an unfamiliar place for both of you."
"We do not wish to be intrusive, of course." This time it was Mace Windu, the third in the trio of Jedi that were in attendance. "Obi-Wan Kenobi has just returned from the Outer Rim. I trust you still remember him from the Trade Federation crisis. Maybe a familiar face will make our presence more natural."
"Of course I do," Padmé said, sensing Anakin tense from his post in the back of the room at the mention of the man who would have been his Jedi master. "Knight Kenobi will always be a friend of Naboo."
"Then it is settled," Antilles said conclusively. "Knight Kenobi will accompany you and Captain Skywalker during your negotiation. I trust you will come to an agreement that will secure the passage of this bill."
You mean, secure your own flagging reputation.
"Very well then," Padmé relented. To protest further would be to invite suspicion.
"Master Windu," Antilles continued, "if you can instruct Knight Kenobi to keep an ear out for what is troubling Ryloth, I would appreciate any intelligence the Jedi can gather."
"Certainly, Chancellor Antilles. Anything we can do to further the cause of peace."
Padmé breathed a sigh of relief once the Jedi left. She could finally relax her shields. Looking around the room, she caught her husband engaging in small talk with the Senator from Alderaan, and walked over to join them.
"Ah, Senator Amidala," Bail said as she approached. "I never knew your husband was such a connoisseur of the arts."
"Oh," she asked with one eyebrow raised skeptically.
"Yes, he was asking me all about the paintings and statues in my office. Where they come from, their history, their meaning..."
"Ani has always been curious," Padmé said, catching the conspiratorial look in her husband's eye. "I'm happy to see that our time on Coruscant has expanded his...intellectual horizons." She took the older man's arm and steered him towards the Senate hallway. "I hate for either one of us to further delay you, Senator Organa. I hear that Senator Mothma is very eager to discuss with you the latest budget provisions..."